40 
Fishery Bulletin 108(1 ) 
15r28’0” 
151°24’0" 
ISI^O’O" 
151°44'0" 
151°40'0" 
i5i°36'0" 
151°32'0" 
15r36'0" 
151”32 , 0" 
151°28 , 0“ 
15r24'0" 
Pot type 
© sablefish 
A Korean hair 
H lair 
<£> shrimp 
- contour (m) 
KacHemak Bay 
15r20'0" 
Figure 1 
Map of Kachemak Bay, Alaska, and location of pots set to catch North Pacific giant octopus ( Enteroctopus dofleini ) to 
evaluate the efficiency of the pots for use in a directed North Pacific giant octopus fishery. Each marker represents 
the first marker buoy in a string of 16-20 pots, set during two surveys in 2006. 
tunnel. Sablefish pots were made of 1.3-cm rebar and 
measured 147 cm tall and had a 122-cm bottom ring and 
a 71-cm top ring. The sock tunnel opening was 25 cm 
wide and located 76 cm from the bottom. The net used 
was 7-cm mesh black seine net. Korean hair crab and 
sablefish pots were baited with chopped herring. Both 
commercial and personal-use Ladner shrimp pots had 
three 7.62-cm tunnel openings and were baited with 
either herring or prawn pellets. 
Each string of pots consisted of a single pot type to 
best replicate fishing practices and to make the process 
of setting and retrieving pots as safe as possible. Each 
string of pots consisted of 20 pots spaced nine meters 
apart and two marker buoys were attached to each 
end. Lair pot strings had only 16 pots. We removed the 
shrimp pots from the sampling design for the second 
survey because of their low catch per unit of effort 
(CPUE). 
To facilitate handling, captured giant octopuses were 
placed in mesh bags and kept in individual (53 liters/ 
60.7 x 40.4 x 31cm) Rubbermaid® containers. Containers 
were filled with seawater and the water was exchanged 
every five minutes by using a pump placed approximate- 
ly one meter below the surface of the water. The sex of 
each animal was determined by the presence (male) or 
absence (female) of the hectocotylized right third arm. 
If the animal had lost the tip of its right third arm we 
could not determine sex. We recorded morphometric 
measurements including the interocular distance (IOD), 
mantle length (ML), and wet weight, as well as any 
identifying marks for each individual. Muscle tissue 
from the tip of the left third arm was clipped and pre- 
served in 95% ethanol for future genetic analysis. 
Descriptive summary statistics of individuals cap- 
tured, capture rates of each pot type, and capture rates 
by survey were tabulated. A paired t-test was used 
to compare the weights of males (77 = 114) and females 
(71 = 128) captured. We could not determine sex for 8 
individuals. They were omitted from all analyses of 
differences between the sexes. Size selectivity was as- 
